Communication Quote by T. S. Eliot
“Genuine poetry can communicate before it is understood.”
About This Quote
Source Poem: The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock, 1915
Art can evoke emotion before the mind grasps its meaning.
In simple terms: Poetry can move you before you understand it.
Key Takeaway
Trust feeling first, then seek meaning.
Themes
art
emotion
communication
Mood
reflective
introspective
Type
literary
philosophical
When to use this quote
- reading poetry
- listening to lyrics
- teaching literature
Key Concepts
aesthetic experience
preconscious perception
Questions to Reflect On
- How does a poem affect you before you analyze it?
- What feelings arise before comprehension?
A Different Perspective
If the message is misunderstood, emotional impact may be lost.
![“Poetry springs directly from our primal need and capacity for communication[Poetry] mobilizes such a concentration of devices, such an intensification of language via rhythm, syntax, image and metaphor. Reading it-the best of it-can create another, very different kind of perpetual present, an…” quote by Sven Birkerts](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/img-quotes/c57/sven-birkerts-25191_awareness_poetry-springs-directly-from-our-primal_206738.jpg)
![“the ordinary man's experience is chaotic, irregular, fragmentary. [He] falls in love or reads Spinoza, and these two experiences have nothing to do with each other, or with the noise of the typewriter, or the smell of cooking; in the mind of the poet these experiences are always forming new wholes” quote by T. S. Eliot](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/img-quotes/18e/t-s-eliot-633_art_the-ordinary-man-s-experience-is-chaotic_93688.jpg)
